We finally arrive at Heathrow/London—went thru Customs and then on to Paddington Area in London.
The airports offer you more things to do—besides getting into the country and like that.
- Here you determine how you’re getting where in the city/country you’re staying. Heathrow has a train connectioin that can take you to London in 15 min……but at least one of us insisted it was just too much to handle all our suitcases on (as well as boardng and unboarding) so we ended up taking a cab, which took longer than the train. If you are getting the train you can get a ticket—check out the cost as usually round trips save you money—-but before you buy ask about restrictions–some time there are restrictions: i.e. You must purchase for use within 30 days of from day of purchase.
2. When you schedule with a hotel look into areas convenient to the train—Victoria is to Gatwick—train runs every half hour—is non-stop and takes a half an hour to get to Victoria Station. This time we were staying in Paddington which is direct destination from Heathrow as I mentioned before.
“All Virgina Atlantic and Delta flights from London Heathrow arrive and depart from shared home at Terminal 3 (T3), offering a great seamless service.
3. I try to find a hotel with good reviews on line, have breakfasts included with room daily. Oh and since we’re getting in and to the hotel about 12 or a bit earlier in the daytime I also confirm that they provide storeage for suitcase as average check in time is 2:30 am and that’s a while to have to drag your luggage about—most hotels here seem to be do this but I alway check it out incase there are exception.
The Olympic House Hotel provides the ideal location from which to explore this historic city. It is centrally located with some of London’s famous attractions being within walking distance – among them Madame Tussauds, the Planetarium, Royal Albert Hall, London Zoo, Harrods, Oxford Street, Hyde Park, and many more.
After checking in and depositing luggage At the Olympic House– we’re out to an early open pub to get some coffee and a bite before we hit the streets.
Then we caught the
Big Bus hop on and off the Discovery Ticket—This is a good way to get around while you’re waiting for your room and on the particular day it was even better as it wa raining quite heavily at times and the walk about option wasn’t useful. We set downstairs as the top is open and was getting wetter by the moment. There are three routes and we passed thru Kensingon and by Harrods all the way to the historicc Tower of London on the Thames—-and all the while you could listen to the digital commentary available in 5 languages on the complemetary headphones.
We had planned on doing this but we were going to do some stops—this didn’t work out as it was seriously raining most of the day—so we sat on the bus an moved through the city loo sites and areas and staying awake. We actually did this for several hours—-
When we’ve wandered about enough we took the tube back to Paddington Station. we had actually did all the paperwork fo the hotel so we just picked up our keys and luggage—-went to the room
Then back to Paddington (think of that cutie bear) which was once a small village of farmers which suceeded due to it’s location near the Regent Canal..
by King Edgar and remained with the Abbey for hundreds of years.
Many, many, many years later the
Great Western Railway came along and needed a place here and they bought it from the church
:
and when we ended up back at the station were we had decided to have dinner
Oh and the name—–so like I said the Railway bought the land from the church….for a nominal fee…..but as time passed they realize that the Bishop that sold the land was batty selling such prime land for such a low price—and so the Mad Bishop—-and we already know about the bear (who come from Peru and likes marmalade sandwiches.)
Oh by the way we loved the food, the drinks and the service—-great choice for dinner with Bishop and Bear
then another walk back to hotel:
This area is called Tyburnia: The name was used in the 19th c for the south-eastern corner of the parish, which was the first of Paddington Esttes to be developed. It i presumed that this name comes from
“Tyburn” the gallows in the area. Paddington’ Tyburrnia was situated in an angle between Edgeware and Bayswater roads, it stretched westward from the former gallows to merge with Bayswater,. From the 14th century many political executions took place at Tyburn. In 1571 the temporary gallows was replaced by a permanent triangular frame was set up. In those days it was called Tyburn tree and served as London’s main site of execution and were 21 victims could be hanged at once. It attracted huge crowds with an estimated 200,000 attending the
execution of Jack Sheppard in 1724.Burials of corpses from Tyburn were recorded from 1689 and proved profitible for the churches whose yards were used in Paddington in the late 17th and into the 18th century. There were also burial pits found at the gallows foot, even possibly
Oliver Cromwell’s who was dead prior to his being hung here—-by the order of Charles II who ordered him to be dug up and hung, and beheaded for the execution of Charles father King Charles I.
OK back to the room and onto a good nights sleep.
